10 Home Garage Door Safety Tips

Garages are great for a whole range of uses as well as car parking - storage, DIY projects and extra living space - for all of those reasons, they can also pose safety and security challenges. To help you keep safety top of mind, we've prepared this list of garage door safety tips for keeping everyone and everything safe and secure.

1. Make sure any wall mounted garage door opener control buttons are out of the reach of small children.

2. Do not let children have access to garage door remote controls.

3. Consult the owner’s manual and learn how to use the garage door’s emergency release feature.

4. Visually inspect the garage door each month for signs of wear: look at springs, wheels and tracks. If you spot a problem, do not attempt to remove, adjust or repair these parts or anything attached to them. A trained garage door technician must make adjustments to these parts, which are under high tension.

5. Test the garage door opener’s reversing mechanism monthly by placing something like a roll of paper towels in the door’s path. If the door does not reverse after contacting the object, call a qualified garage door professional for repair. If your garage door opener has not been replaced for many years, seriously consider a new one with auto-reverse as a standard feature.

6. Never place fingers between garage door panel sections and explain the dangers of doing so to children. If you have small children, consider a door with panels that can’t pinch.

7. Do not leave the garage door partially open. When activated again, it may travel downward and come in contact with an object in its path. This also impacts your home’s security.

8. While on holiday, unplug the garage door opener unit or use the vacation mode, which renders all but one remote unusable. Vacation mode comes standard with your Dominator Garage Door Opener.

9. If your garage door opener does not have rolling-code technology, be sure to change the manufacturer’s standard access codes on the opener and remote control. Rolling-code technology such as Dominator's Tri-Tran^TM 128, changes the access codes each time the opener is used to prevent code grabbing by thieves (see more here). Consider investing in a newer model garage door opener with more safety and security features that are now standard.

10. A worrying trend in home invasion is gaining access to the home by stealing the opener or car. Never leave your remote control in the car or with a parking attendant. Consider attaching the remote to a key chain. Importantly, always lock the entry to the inside of your home.

See more ways to keep your garage secure here.